1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to vehicle storage racks generally, and, more specifically, to rotatable and movable vehicle storage racks for mounting to pick-up truck beds.
2. Description of the Related Art
Vehicles having open cargo beds such as pick up trucks offer great cargo-hauling versatility. However, the cargo hauling ability of a vehicle's bed is often limited by the length and width of the bed. Oversized or oddly-shaped items such as, for example, various lengths of lumber, building materials, building tools such as ladders, or recreational items such as bicycles, surfboards, canoes may not fit within a vehicle's bed as sidewalls and a tailgate of the bed define the bed's storage area. However, these oversized items may still be transported through the use of an overhead storage rack to which an oversized item may be secured.
Various vehicle overhead storage racks are known. For example, application-specific storage racks have been applied to automobile roofs to allow an automobile to transport luggage, or recreational items such as bicycles, skis or surfboards that may be too large to fit within an automobile's cabin. These racks are typically fixedly secured to the automobile, for example by clamping to the automobile's rain gutter or other mounting channel formed in the roof of the automobile. As these racks are often application specific (i.e., configured to hold skis only, or configured to hold luggage only) and fixedly secured to a vehicle's roof, they offer little versatility.
Overhead racks adapted for use over truck beds offer even more limited versatility. Typically, truck bed racks are application-specific fixed frame assemblies bolted or welded to the sidewalls of the vehicle bed. For example, vehicle bed storage racks are known that include a metal frame welded to the vehicle bed's sidewalls and cargo floor. Some racks are repositionable along a truck extending along each side of the truck bed. It also has been suggested that the frame be rotatable between a deployed position and a storage position, wherein the rack is positioned substantially within the truck bed.
Regardless of its rotatability, however, the metal frame is effectively application specific, for example, it could be configured to hold multiple panes of glass, gardening tools, or large sheets of wood, drywall, or other building materials. While these frames enhance the hauling ability of a vehicle bed, they require an involved installation to the vehicle and are not typically adaptable to multiple types of uses. Therefore, a user who might wish to haul several bicycles one day and building supplies the next would be unable to do so without an involved de-installation and installation of roof racks dedicated to each. Thus, there is a need in the art for a versatile, multifunction vehicle bed overhead rack that can be easily configured and reconfigured for a desired use.